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It probably wasn't what Amadeus intended. Doctors performing
colonoscopies might be able to find and remove more polyps if
they are listening to Mozart during the procedure. These polyps
are tiny growths that can lead to colon cancer.

The study will be presented today (Oct. 31) at the American
College of Gastroenterology annual meeting in Washington.

And there is indeed a logical connection here, should you be
worried that these gastroenterologists next will be subjected to
listening to the Beastie Boys while maneuvering their
colonoscopes. The study is based on a credible theory called
the Mozart effect. Mozart's music may temporarily improve a
person's ability to visualize spatial patterns, a phenomenon
first reported in the journal Nature in 1993.

Roll over, Mozart

Performing a colonoscopy entails much spatial reasoning, as
doctors must carefully guide a colonoscope through the delicate
large intestine with its tight turns, avoiding perforating the
colon and all the while snipping and collecting any growths that
seem strange. So, two researchers at University of Texas Health
Science Center at Houston, Catherine Noelle O'Shea and David
Wolf, decided to test the Mozart effect on two reasonably
accomplished colonoscopy doctors.

The researchers first established the two doctors' baseline skill
during a one-year period before the study. This is a measure of a
doctor's adenoma detection rate, or the percentage of a doctor's
patients in which at least one precancerous polyp is found. The
two doctors had rates of about 21 percent and 27 percent,
respectively.

Anything over 20 percent might be adequate to keep
colon cancer at bay, according to a study published last year
in the New England Journal of Medicine. Yet when these two
doctors listened to Mozart while performing the colonoscopies,
their adenoma detection rates rose to about 66 percent and 37
percent, respectively. This means they were finding precancerous
polyps growing in many more of their patients.

These polyps can take upwards of 10 years to turn cancerous. So
removing as many polyps as possible during
routine colonoscopies every five or 10 years can prevent
colon cancer.

Mozart's revenge

Of course, there's a big "but" to this research. The study
involves just two doctors each performing only a few dozen
colonoscopies. Thus, the increased adenoma detection rates that
the researchers observed aren't strongly statistically
significant.

The Mozart effect in general has been difficult to prove. The
initial study from 1993 has been grossly misinterpreted, leading
to the popular notion that
listening to Mozart will raise your IQ (or your baby's). In
fact, the initial study points only to a temporary effect for
visualizing and manipulating patterns in your head. Follow-up
studies on the Mozart effect have produced mixed results, with
supporting studies best labeled as intriguing, not validating.

Yet piping Mozart into the operating room is inexpensive and does
no harm, two factors that support the call for further research.
O'Shea said that she would like to perform a larger study on
colonoscopies if she had the resources.

Coincidentally, Mozart
was infamous for his scatological humor. In addition to
references in his letters to excrement and the body part that
produces it, Mozart composed ditties such as Leck mich im
Arsch, generously translated from the German into English as
Kiss My Butt.